Head, Heart, and Hands: Breaking the Cycle of Religious Fear

The need to engage in interfaith dialogue has never been greater. By learning the foundations of each other's faiths, we can learn to respect and connect with one another so we may work together to build a better world.

Rabbi Ted Falcon, Pastor Don Mackenzie, and Sheikh Jamal Rahman,
known collectively as the "Interfaith Amigos," have been learning and
teaching together since 2001. They blog weekly for YES! Magazine.

No matter how nuanced our discussions about interfaith become, one
basic issue overshadows all the rest: the need to engage in interfaith
dialogue has never been greater. As the three of us say in our book,
“It’s a matter of our survival.” Look at the conflicts around the
world. Religion—or rather, uninformed prejudice about religions other
than one’s own—is used, whether consciously or unconsciously, to foment
and justify hatred and violence. Truly, we must expand our religious
literacy by open-minded and open-hearted dialogue if we are to break
the cycle of inter-religious fear and violence.

Appreciative understanding

Mahatma Gandhi repeatedly said that if we want peace in a
multi-religious society, each of us must develop an appreciative
understanding of the others’ religions. Interfaith understanding isn’t
just a nice idea; it is, in Gandhi’s words, “a sacred duty.” And we
have to ask ourselves honestly, “What is the source of my information?”
It’s human nature to credit only sources that feed our own preconceived
opinions, so we must combat that tendency by making conscious efforts
to consult other sources. The best way to learn about other religions
is to talk with people who actually practice them. Resist the
temptation to avoid this work by thinking, “Ah, but all this does not
apply to me because I am open minded and non-prejudiced.” Gandhi would
humbly ask, “But what are you open-mined and non-prejudiced about?”

In time, dialogue of the heart leads to dialogue of
the hands: interfaith participation in programs of social justice and
care for the Earth, issues that are dear to all hearts regardless of
religious
affiliation.

Illiteracy is unfortunate but religious illiteracy is dangerous.
When we are religiously illiterate, we are susceptible to being
manipulated. Unscrupulous politicians and religious firebrands with an
agenda castigate the other’s religion and pander to our base ego
nature. Our fear passions are whipped up and our thinking becomes
befuddled. Our ignorance turns into arrogance. An entire religion is
judged by the behavior or misbehavior of some practitioners. We say and
do terrible things.

Gandhi has timeless advice about dealing with religious extremism.
If a religious extremist commits a wrong, by all means protect yourself
and take right action, but please, Gandhi begged us, do not criticize
that person’s religion. Instead, point out insights and verses of
wisdom and beauty from the person’s own religion and help him or her to
become a better Muslim, Hindu, Christian, or Jew. That kind of thinking
and action, Gandhi explained, is the way of peace. It reminds us that
there is inherent beauty and wisdom in every religion, and we need to
cultivate this awareness in our society, especially amongst our children,
schools, government officials, politicians, and religious leaders.

Scholarly vertigo

Recently I heard about a forum in which a Muslim imam and a
Christian pastor debated vigorously about whose scripture was superior,
the Quran or the Bible. Such debate only serves to inflate both Muslim
and Christian egos and is decidedly not what interfaith dialogue is all
about. We are not in a game of scoring points over each other. This
kind of dialogue creates what Sufi teachers call a “scholarly vertigo”
and an “exhausted famousness.” Beware of becoming addicted to
unnecessary and complex discussions in religion. Rumi likens such
addiction to that of a bird that ties a snare around its legs and then
unties it, repeating the process over and over in ever more complex
snares to show off its strange skill. Addicted to the game it has
created, the bird has forgotten that the point of untying the string is
to escape!

In ReviewJamal Rahman discusses Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think

In all the presentations the three of us have done since 9/11, the
questions directed to me always concern Jihad, “holy war,” and a
perceived lack of tolerance in the Quran. These questions are rooted in
common misunderstandings perpetuated by misuse and misrepresentation in
the media. To set the record straight, Jihad literally means “effort”
and refers primarily to the spiritual effort to evolve into the
fullness of one’s being, to improve relationships with family and
neighbors, and to work for justice. The more militant concept of Jihad
that so threatens the Western mind refers only to self-defense when
under attack. The idea of Jihad as “holy war” simply does not exist in
the Quran, even though this is the prevailing notion not only in the
media but also, unfortunately, among some Islamic militants.

Regarding
the fear that the Quran encourages intolerance, the truth is that many
Quranic verses celebrate diversity. When, in the course of our
presentations, Rabbi Ted and Pastor Don quote these “diversity” verses,
audience members—including Muslims—are astonished that a rabbi and a
pastor care enough about interfaith work to learn and quote from a
sacred scripture outside their own traditions. This simple example
moves them to reach out to their neighbors and colleagues of different
faiths and expand their own religious literacy. There’s no need to play
string games about theological minutiae. We need only to listen to the
knowledge and experience of another’s religion to escape the snare of
misinformation and soften our prejudices.

Dialogue of heart and hands

So far we have been talking about dialogue of the head, but there is
also dialogue of the heart—what has come to be called the “three cups
of tea” approach (from the title of that wonderful book by Greg
Mortenson and David Oliver Relin): listen, respect, and connect. This
approach, which we three amigos have seen evolve over our years of
friendship—not only among the three of us, but also among members of
our congregations—has resulted in such trust that we are able to name
and discuss things that are awkward and difficult in our own texts. Our
intention is not to criticize but to name the truth and begin the
process of healing the shadow side of our traditions so that we might
become more authentic with ourselves and with others. Verses that do
not support the universal messages of our holy books need to be
interpreted by a higher understanding within us. Sages tell us that we
do not see things as they are; we see things as we are. In our
presentations on this issue, the audience response has been
extraordinarily supportive. Truth telling and the sincere desire to
heal self and others uplift religious literacy to a higher level. This
kind of literacy is possible when there is a dialogue of the heart.

Then there is dialogue of the hands. No matter what our differences,
we all can collaborate on projects of mutual interest. When there is a
human connection and possibility of friendship, scriptural differences
no longer loom as a threat even among conservative and orthodox members
of another faith. In time, dialogue of the heart leads to dialogue of
the hands: interfaith participation in programs of social justice and care for the Earth, issues that are dear to all hearts regardless of religious
affiliation.

The Quran tells us that God “has spread out the earth as a carpet
for you so that you may walk therein on spacious paths” (71:18-19).
When we enter into an interfaith dialogue with the other, we are truly
walking on spacious paths.Sheikh Jamal
Rahman wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit
media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions.
Jamal is co-founder and Muslim Sufi Minister at Interfaith Community Church in Seattle. Originally from Bangladesh, he is a graduate of the University of Oregon and the University of California, Berkeley. His books include and .

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